Massachusetts students’ performance on the TIMSS this year is similar to 2007, when fourth-graders ranked second worldwide in science achievement and tied for third in mathematics, while eighth-graders tied for first in science and ranked sixth in math.

Significantly, however, the state’s eighth-graders made a 14-point gain in mathematics and an 11-point gain in science achievement since the 2007 test.

These results should not surprise many.

Since the state’s landmark Education Reform Law of 1993, test results, whether it is the TIMSS or the SATs, have shown Massachusetts students making significant, if not dramatic, academic improvement over the years.

Yet the perception lingers that public education in the state is mediocre, if not poor.

“If you are not laser-focused on what’s going on, you will be susceptible to those who always say, ‘Oh, things are so bad,’ ” School Committee member Tracy O’Connell Novick said, noting that current education debate tends to focus primarily on those kids who are not making it.

“My frustration is that some people never seem to grasp a significant trend in the data about those who are not successful: that poverty matters,” she said.

“If you are a student with the appropriate nutrition, if you know where you are going to bed each night, if you have someone home to support you, the school system can do great things for you.”

The perception that the commonwealth’s public education experience is quite wanting is probably born from the state’s emphasis on moving away “from patting ourselves on the back, to a data-driven result environment which is forcing schools to continually improve,” according to S. Paul Reville, the state secretary of education.

“We are proud of the dramatic improvements we are seeing, and as much as we need to celebrate that, at the same time we understand that we have achievement gaps that are having a pernicious effect in the lives of some students,” he said. “Many students are leaving school not ready for work or need remedial work in college. As a state, we are focus on what needs to be done, and that is as it should be.”

Still, Mr. Reville, acknowledged that no matter how optimized the state’s education system becomes, it will not entirely mitigate the problems of poverty.

“Children spend about 20 percent of their waking hours in school, so schools are a weak intervention to overcoming many of the disadvantages in their lives,” he said.

“As our income structure gets more bipolar, some families will gain more and more advantages, while others will get to spend less time and money on enrichment opportunities for their children.

“This is not an excuse. We are simply saying what the data tells us after 20 years — that educational achievement correlates with socio-economic status and until we (society as a whole) address some of these outside issues, we will have difficulty closing our achievement gaps.”